Guides / DAW conversion

How to convert GarageBand to REAPER

Updated October 2026

GarageBand saves projects as .band packages — a folder macOS shows as one file. REAPER can’t open one, and GarageBand has no REAPER export. Doseedo converts the project itself: upload the zipped .band, download a native REAPER .rpp project with the arrangement rebuilt.

Why there's no built-in way

Apple gives a GarageBand project exactly one way into another app: Logic Pro opens a .band directly. Every other DAW is on the outside. GarageBand’s own exports are audio — the mix, or one track at a time if you solo each — with no MIDI file and no project format REAPER reads, so the usual advice (bounce every track, rebuild by hand) turns a project back into a pile of audio files. A native conversion keeps it editable: MIDI stays MIDI, regions stay where they were. If you also have Logic Pro, it opens the .band itself, and a Logic project converts to REAPER too (Logic to REAPER).

How the conversion works

Doseedo reads the GarageBand project natively — the package itself, no export step in GarageBand — and rebuilds it as a native REAPER .rpp project. A .band is a macOS package, so it travels zipped: right-click it in Finder, choose Compress, and upload the zip; the audio travels inside it. A project last saved by GarageBand 6 (’11) or earlier is an older format — open it in current GarageBand (or Logic Pro) on a Mac, save it, and zip that.

What carries over — and what doesn't

GarageBand → REAPER carries the arrangement, honestly scoped. What arrives editable: tracks with their names, levels and mutes; MIDI regions with every note exactly where it was played; audio regions with their files traveling in the project; tempo and time signature.

GarageBand’s own instrument sounds don’t come with it — they live inside GarageBand, so each software-instrument track arrives with its notes and the name of the patch it used, and you choose the sound in REAPER. A looped region is placed once rather than looped, and Apple Loops that were never copied into the project arrive as offline clips. Automation and plugin chains aren’t promised on this pair yet. Nothing is silently dropped — every conversion comes with a report of what changed.

Do I need GarageBand or REAPER installed?

Not to convert — the conversion runs on the zipped project itself, on a Mac or a PC. You need REAPER to open the result.

Watch the walkthrough

Same job, any name

Whether you'd say GarageBand to REAPER converter, convert .band to .rpp (band to rpp), GarageBand file to REAPER file, open a GarageBand project in REAPER, import a GarageBand project into REAPER, export GarageBand to REAPER, or move, transfer or migrate a project from GarageBand to REAPER — it is the conversion this guide walks through, and the GarageBand to REAPER converter does it free, online, with nothing to install. Also searched as: convert garageband to reaper · band to rpp · band to rpp converter · convert band file to rpp · garageband project to reaper project · garageband file to reaper file · open band in reaper · import garageband project into reaper.

Related guides

• GarageBand to REAPER converter (the tool)
• What is a .band file
• Open a .band without GarageBand
• Every way to move a project between DAWs

FAQ

Can you convert a GarageBand project to REAPER?

Yes. Upload a zipped .band to Doseedo and download a native REAPER .rpp project. What arrives editable: tracks with their names, levels and mutes; MIDI regions with every note exactly where it was played; audio regions with their files traveling in the project; tempo and time signature.

Does GarageBand export to REAPER?

No. GarageBand exports audio only — the mix, or one track at a time — and REAPER can’t open a .band. Logic Pro is the only other DAW that opens a GarageBand project. A native converter rebuilds the project for REAPER — that’s what Doseedo does.

Do plugins carry over from GarageBand to REAPER?

GarageBand’s own instrument sounds don’t come with it — they live inside GarageBand, so each software-instrument track arrives with its notes and the name of the patch it used, and you choose the sound in REAPER. Nothing is faked: whatever doesn’t cross the GarageBand–REAPER boundary is named in the conversion report.

Do I need GarageBand or a Mac to convert a .band?

Not to convert: the conversion works on the zipped project on any computer. The .band has to be zipped first (on a Mac, right-click → Compress), and you need REAPER to open the result.